I know MTB tyres dont fair well on tarmac – but I have an outdoor velopark very close to my house. Thinking about doing occasional rides there on the Scalpel. As it’s a 1-mile flat track with smooth tarmac I can’t see it causing much wear on the tyres – but would be a good training ground.

Thoughts ?

Training for what?

Adding it to my XC training regime when I can’t get to more distant trail centres and XC locations. I know XC isn’t about 1 hour plus sprints but it’s all bike time. Venue is 1/2 mile away and costs £3. So fancy giving it a shot.

They will get worn down quick if they are the evo compound.

My experience is that Continental Race Kings are faster on tarmac due to their tread pattern

use a slick? Something like the conti sport contact?

I can’t see the point tbh, is there no forestry or parks nearby where you could ride fire roads or paths instead?

If you want to do tarmac based training then buy a road bike 🙂

And if it’s on tarmac then save yourself £3 and ride on a quiet road, poss with some hills, and get more out of it training-wise…?

Brother in law claims RR where quicker on tarmac than the cheap slicks they replaced

I have Ralph’s on my CX bike, it’s a three mile road route to the trail head (each way) I’ve had no problems at all with premature wear on the tyres, this is twice a week for the wet bit of the year!! So quite a bit…. 😉

Velo park sounds like a good plan, builds the skills, something different to add to the training!

I go a couple of miles either way to trails on RR’s, also cycle that bike to and from work everyday. I think they’re OK, obviously never going to be as smooth as slicks but if you don’t fancy changing your tyres all the time then I think they’re a good shout

I’ll give it a go. No I don’t fancy riding on roads and quiet roads don’t really exist round here. I do masses of hills when training so this is just to try something a little different. There’s generally a bunch of roadies riding around as well so will give me some hares to chase as well.
I don’t mind paying the £3 !! Costs me that to park at my trail centre !!!!
If my cadence is fairly high and no hills to exert tyre force it sounds like I’ll be ok — unless they get too hot and wear prematurely (which is unlikely this time of year).

My small block 8s wore down VERY quickly creating a square tyre profile.